The Berlin art legend who found his calling in sneaking into other artists’ shows

‘It became a habit’ … Mr Jambon. Photograph: Mija Jung

As the crowd outside a gallery in central Berlin filters indoors to get out of the rain, a man in a bright red T-shirt wearing cartoonishly large metal-framed glasses heads in the opposite direction.

With a retro futuristic yellow bike helmet under his arm and an orange backpack stuffed full of rain gear slung over his shoulder, Patrick Jambon, a 58-year-old Frenchman, leaves Galerie Neu and makes for his bike. The rain is not stopping him from making the most of Berlin’s gallery weekend, when many of Berlin’s 400-plus galleries exhibit new shows over three days.